Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress And The Tangerine
June. 28,2008
A journey inside the world of a legend of modern art and an icon of feminism. Onscreen, the nonagenarian Louise Bourgeois is magnetic, mercurial and emotionally raw-an uncompromising artist whose life and work are imbued with her ongoing obsession with the mysteries of childhood. Her process is on full display in this intimate documentary, which features the artist in her studio and with her installations, shedding light on her intentions and inspirations. Louise Bourgeois has for six decades been at the forefront of successive new developments, but always on her own powerfully inventive and disquieting terms. In 1982, at the age of 71, she became the first woman to be honored with a major retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art. In the decades since, she has created her most powerful and persuasive work, including her series of massive spider structures that have been installed around the world.
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Reviews
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
One satisfying thing about this film is that much of it consists of Bourgeois talking about her work and her philosophy. As the rare talent who seems always to have had the courage of her convictions, she certainly deserves a hearing. Another good thing is the quantity and range of her art that we get to see. Even those familiar with her work will probably be surprised by its scope.But the film has been sloppily edited, if at all. Too many comments, from Bourgeois herself and from her associates, trail off into nothingness, making us wonder what the point was of including them. A good half hour should have been edited out, and the rest could maybe have been better organized into something with a beginning, a middle, and an end. As a documentary, it's pretty slapdash.But her candor is there for all to see. And it's a revelation to hear from some of her associates and admirers, who make no bones about her quirkiness yet truly appreciate the person and the work.
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